Where do endangered species live? How has the number of threatened and endangered species changed over time? In this EcoWest.org presentation, we illustrate some trends in ESA listings.
1. To list or not to list?
Trends in endangered species metrics
An EcoWest.org
presentation
1/20/2013
2. Notable endangered species in the West
Species Where found? Conflicts and public policy issues
Gray Northern Rockies and Opposition from ranchers and others animates
wolf Southwest debate over delisting of Northern Rockies
population; Southwest wolves doing poorly.
Salmon Pacific Coast and Major impacts on dam operations, but also
Pacific Northwest affected by land-use changes, such as logging of
headwaters habitat.
Spotted Pacific Coast states Need old-growth forests and have contributed to
owl (northern) and significant declines in logging in the Pacific
Southwest (Mexican) Northwest.
Desert Mojave Desert of Once threatened to derail growth in Las Vegas;
tortoise Southern California now coming into conflict with solar energy
and Nevada proposals.
Delta Sacramento-San Continuing to influence management of the hub
smelt Joaquin Delta in California’s water works.
Canada Rocky Mountains Impacts ski industry and other development in
lynx high-elevation areas.
EcoWest.org 1/20/2013 2
3. Endangered species clustered in subset of counties
EcoWest.org Source: Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States 1/20/2013 3
4. Number of listed species
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 4
5. Number of species protected by the ESA
Nixon/ Carter Reagan Bush I Clinton Bush II Obama
1600 Ford
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 5
6. Number of species listed per year
Nixon/ Carter Reagan Bush I Clinton Bush II Obama
140
Ford
120
100
80
60
40
20
Congressional
moratorium
0
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 6
7. Listings influenced by who’s in the White House
Average number of species listed per year (1974-2011)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Nixon/Ford Carter Reagan Bush I Clinton Bush II Obama
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Center for Biological Diversity 1/20/2013 7
8. Waiting to board the ark: a backlog of candidates
Number of candidates for ESA protection
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 8
9. Number of candidates for ESA protection
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 9
10. Reasons for ESA delistings since 1973
Extinct
9
Recovered
20
Original Data in Error
- Act Amendment
1
Original Data in Error
- Erroneous Data
1
Original Data in Error
- New Information
Discovered
6
Original Data in Error
- Not a Listable Entity
3
Original Data in Error
- Taxonomic Revision
7
EcoWest.org Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1/20/2013 10
11. Download more slides and other resources
ecowest.org
Contact us by e-mailing mitch@ceaconsulting.com
EcoWest.org 1/20/2013 11
Notas do Editor
Endangered species figure prominently in many Western environmental issues and the region is home to a number of biodiversity hotspots. In this EcoWest presentation, we show where federally protected species are found and review the history of Endangered Species Act listings.
Narrative: There are more than 1,200 endangered species in the U.S., but a small subset tends to generate the lion’s share of attention. Here are some of the notable endangered species in the West, where they’re found, and how they’re figured into public policy debates. Although species protected by the ESA sometimes do have significant economic and regulatory impacts, most of the plants and animals protected by the law are not lighting rods for controversy. Source: EcoWestURL: ecowest.org
Narrative: Let’s take a look atwhereendangered species live. This map analyzes endangered species by counties. You can see that there is often considerable variation within single states like California and Nevada, where one county may have more than 10 listed species while an adjoining county has none. Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, the Southwest, Appalachia, and Florida stand out for their large number of listed species, but many U.S. counties, especially in the Midwest, have no threatened or endangered species.Source: Stein, Bruce A., Lynn S. Kutner, Jonathan S. Adams, Nature Conservancy (U.S.), and Association for Biodiversity Information. Precious Heritage : The Status of Biodiversity in the United States.New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.URL: hhttp://www.natureserve.org/publications/preciousHeritage.jsp
Narrative: Here’s the state-by-state breakdown. Hawaii has far and away the most listed species, with nearly 400. The archipelago’s native biodiversity, which includes many endemic species that have evolved in isolation and are found nowhere else on Earth, has been devastated by the introduction of non-native plants and animals. On the mainland, California has the most listed species, followed by Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. The Dakotas are at the bottom of the list.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://www.fws.gov/ecos/
Narrative: Species are supposed to be added to the endangered list solely on the basis of biology and whether they’re endangered, regardless of the economic impact, but many studies of the act have found that politics frequently intrude in the listing process. This chart shows how many species have been listed as threatened or endangered, on a cumulative basis. Although the ESA was enacted in 1973, some species were listed under a precursor to the law in the late 1960s. If you overlay the terms of the U.S. presidents, you can see that listings really leveled off during George W. Bush’s two terms.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ http://www.fws.gov/ecos/ajax/tess_public/pub/speciesCountByYear.jsp
Narrative: Here’s another look at the same data. This graph shows how many species were listed as threatened or endangered each year. That sharp decline around 1995 is due to a moratorium on new listings that was enacted by Congress after the Republican Revolution of 1994.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ http://www.fws.gov/ecos/ajax/tess_public/pub/speciesCountByYear.jsp
Narrative: This graphic shows how many species each president listed under the ESA, on average, per year in office. Environmentalists had a tough time getting species listed during George W. Bush’s two terms, but the rate under Ken Salazar’s Interior Department is less than half the rate when Bruce Babbitt was in charge of Interior during the Clinton administration.Source: Center for Biological Diversity, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Marris, Emma, “Endangered Species Chart a FreshCourse,” Nature online, March 10, 2009.URL: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090310/full/news.2009.148.htmlNotes: Table does not include delistings or the 131 species listed before 1974.
Narrative: Many species that the Fish and Wildlife Service has judged at risk of extinction are not receiving protection from the ESA. By the mid 2000s, nearly 300 had been declared as “candidates,” meaning their listing was biologically “warranted but precluded” by budgetary constraints. This list is akin to the queue waiting to board Noah’s Ark because species that are candidates don’t receive the same strong federal protections as threatened and endangered species. The Obama administration has made some progress in reducing the number of candidates from about 250 at the start of the first term to 192 in November 2012.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/pub/SpeciesReport.do?listingType=C
Narrative: As with endangered species, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, the Southwest, Appalachia, and Florida tend to have the most candidate species.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://www.fws.gov/ecos/
Narrative: We’ve talked about how species get added to the list, but what about de-listings under the ESA? This hasn’t happened very often since 1973—less than 50 times. In 20 cases, a species was declared recovered and no longer in need of ESA protection. Eighteen times, the government decided the original listing was in error, often because of taxonomic changes or the discovery of new populations. In nine cases, a species protected by the ESA has been declared extinct. At a high level, this graphic summarizes the story of the ESA: hardly any species that have received federal protection have gone extinct, but less than 2 percent of listed species have recovered sufficiently so they could be delisted.Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceURL: http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/pub/delistingReport.jsp